BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, MAY 28,2019

I RECENTLY READ THOMAS ARNOLD’S COMMENT ABOUT ‘FALSE RELIGIONS’ WHEN IN THE “ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”, (FLEMING H.REVELL COMP., WESTWOOD,NJ,,1965),HE SAID, “THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY & ALL OTHER SYSTEMS OF RELIGION CONSISTS LARGELY IN THIS, THAT IN THESE OTHERS, MEN ARE FOUND SEEKING AFTER GOD, WHILE CHRISTIANITY IS GOD SEEKING AFTER MEN.” SO TRUE! BECAUSE IT’S HOLY GOD KNOCKING ON THE DOORS OF MEN’S HEARTS ASKING TO BE INVITED IN!

PROVERBS 1:22-29 TELLS US OF ‘SCORNERS & FOOLS’ WHO DESPISE THE ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE “LIVING GOD”! IT SAYS: “HOW LONG, YOU SIMPLE ONES, WILL YOU LOVE SIMPLICITY? & THE SCORNERS DELIGHT IN THEIR SCORNING, & FOOLS HATE KNOWLEDGE? TURN YOU AT MY REPROOF: BEHOLD, I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UNTO YOU, I WILL MAKE KNOWN MY WORDS UNTO YOU. BECAUSE I HAVE CALLED, & YOU REFUSED; I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HAND, & NO MAN REGARDED;

BUT YOU HAVE SET AT NOUGHT ALL MY COUNSEL, & WOULD (HAVE) NONE OF MY REPROOF: I ALSO WILL LAUGH AT YOUR CALAMITY; I WILL MOCK WHEN YOUR FEAR COMES; WHEN YOUR FEAR COMES AS DESOLATION, & YOUR DESTRUCTION COMES AS A WHIRLWIND; WHEN DISTRESS & ANGUISH COME UPON YOU.

THEN SHALL THEY CALL UPON ME, BUT I WILL NOT ANSWER; THEY SHALL SEEK ME EARLY, BUT THEY SHALL NOT FIND ME; FOR THAT THEY HATED KNOWLEDGE, & DID NOT CHOOSE THE FEAR OF THE LORD.”

HOW INSPIRING, HOW AWAKENING, HOW TRANSFORMING DO YOU FIND THE WORD OF GOD, AND ESPECIALLY AS IT UNFOLDS ‘FALLEN MEN’S BLINDNESS’ TO GOD’S LOVE, HIS MERCY, & HIS GRACE? IN ISAIAH 65:2-12 WE READ, GOD SPEAKING, “I HAVE SPREAD OUT MY HANDS ALL THE DAY UNTO A REBELLIOUS PEOPLE, WHICH WALK IN A WAY THAT WAS NOT GOOD (IS NOT NOW!), AFTER THEIR OWN THOUGHTS; A PEOPLE THAT PROVOKE ME TO ANGER CONTINUALLY TO MY FACE; ( A LOT OF PEOPLE ‘THINK’, ‘LOOK TOWARD’, EVEN ‘REFLECT UPON “GOD”, BUT THEN LOOK INWARD TO A SELFISH LEAN RATHER THAN UPWARD TO A SAVIOR’S LOVE!); THAT ‘SACRIFICE’ IN GARDENS, & BURN INCENSE UPON ALTARS OF BRICK; (CHRIST JESUS ISN’T ‘BRICK’; HE’S THE ETERNAL “BLESSING” OF THE MIND, HEART, & SPIRIT OF HOLY GOD!); WHICH REMAINS AMONG THE GRAVES, & LODGE IN THE MOUNTAINS, WHICH EAT SWINE’S FLESH, & BROTH OF ABOMINABLE THINGS IS IN THEIR VESSELS;

WHICH SAY, STAND BY YOURSELF, COME NOT NEAR TO ME; FOR I AM HOLIER THAN YOU. THESE ARE A SMOKE IN MY NOSE, A FIRE THAT BURNS ALL DAY. BEHOLD, IT IS WRITTEN BEFORE ME:I WILL NOT KEEP SILENCE, BUT WILL RECOMPENSE, EVEN RECOMPENSE INTO THEIR BOSOM. YOUR INIQUITIES, & THE INIQUITIES OF YOUR FATHERS TOGETHER, SAYS THE LORD, WHICH HAVE BURNED INCENSE UPON THE MOUNTAINS, & BLASPHEMED ME UPON THE HILLS; THEREFORE WILL I MEASURE THEIR FORMER WORK INTO THEIR BOSOM. (IS THAT “HARDENING THEIR HEARTS EVEN MORE”?).

THUS SAYS THE LORD, AS THE NEW WINE IS FOUND IN THE CLUSTER, & ONE SAYS, DESTROY IT NOT; FOR A BLESSING IS IN IT; SO WILL I DO FOR MY SERVANTS’ SAKES, THAT I MAY NOT DESTROY THEM ALL. AND I WILL BRING FORTH A SEED OUT OF JACOB, & OUT OF JUDAH AN INHERITOR OF MY MOUNTAINS; & MY ELECT SHALL INHERIT IT, & MY SERVANTS SHALL DWELL THERE. AND SHARON SHALL BE A FOLD OF FLOCKS, & THE VALLEY OF ACHOR A PLACE FOR THE HERDS TO LIE DOWN IN, FOR MY PEOPLE THAT HAVE SOUGHT ME. ( ARE “YOU” A SEEKER?).

BUT, YOU ARE THEY THAT FORSAKE THE LORD, THAT FORGET MY HOLY MOUNTAIN, THAT PREPARE A TABLE FOR THAT TROOP, & THAT FURNISH THE DRINK OFFERING UNTO THAT NUMBER. THEREFORE WILL I NUMBER YOU TO THE SWORD, & YOU SHALL ALL BOW DOWN TO THE SLAUGHTER: “BECAUSE” WHEN I CALLED, YOU DID NOT ANSWER; WHEN I SPOKE, YOU DID NOT HEAR; BUT DID EVIL BEFORE MY EYES, & DID CHOOSE THAT WHEREIN I DELIGHTED NOT.”

GOD SAYS, “I CALL, BUT YOU DON’T ANSWER?” “I KNOCK, BUT THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART, MIND, & WILL REMAINS UNDER YOUR SELF-PROTECTION?” “I LAY BEFORE YOU MY PROMISES, BUT YOU ‘REST’ IN YOUR PRETENSE?” OH, GOD ALSO SAYS, “I CRY, I MOURN, I LAMENT, OVER MEN,”LIKE THE WORD DELIVERED IN 1 TIMOTHY 6:1-6, & 11-12! IT SAYS: “LET AS MANY SERVANTS (ARE “YOU” A ‘SERVANT OF CHRIST” OR ONE CAPTURED BY ‘SELF-WILL, SATANIC INFLUENCES, WORLDLY, SELF-INDULGING IMPULSES’??).AS ARE UNDER THE YOKE COUNT THEIR OWN MASTERS (BOSSES) WORTHY OF ALL HONOR, THAT THE NAME OF GOD & HIS DOCTRINE BE NOT BLASPHEMED.

AND THEY THAT HAVE BELIEVING “BOSSES”, LET THEM NOT DESPISE THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE BROTHERS; BUT RATHER DO THEM SERVICE, BECAUSE THEY ARE FAITHFUL & BELOVED, PARTAKERS OF THE BENEFIT. THESE THINGS TEACH & EXHORT. IF ANY MAN TEACH OTHERWISE, & CONSENT NOT TO WHOLESOME WORDS, EVEN THE WORDS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, & TO THE DOCTRINE WHICH IS ACCORDING TO GODLINESS (1 PETER 1:14-15!); HE IS PROUD, KNOWING NOTHING, BUT DOTING ABOUT QUESTIONS & STRIFES OF WORDS, WHEREOF COMES ENVY, STRIFE, RAILINGS, EVIL SURMISINGS, PERVERSE DISPUTINGS OF MEN OF CORRUPT MINDS (ROMANS 1), & DESTITUTE OF THE TRUTH, SUPPOSING THAT GAIN IS GODLINESS: FROM SUCH WITHDRAW YOURSELF. BUT GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT IS GREAT GAIN.

THEN, 1 TIMOTHY 6:11-12! “BUT YOU, O MAN OF GOD, FLEE THESE THINGS; & FOLLOW AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS, GODLINESS, FAITH, LOVE, PATIENCE (OR STEDFASTNESS!), MEEKNESS, (OR TEACHABLENESS!). FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH, LAY HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE, (&”DON’T LET GO”!!), WHEREUNTO YOU ARE “CALLED”, & HAVE PROFESSED A GOOD PROFESSION BEFORE MANY WITNESSES.”

THE HOLY WORD OF GOD, THE “LIVING PRESENCE OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST IN YOU BY WAY OF REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD & FAITH IN CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK, & HIS ABIDING PRESENCE IN YOU ILLUMINED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT”, & THE “WITNESS” OF HOLY MEN & WOMEN AROUND YOU IN YOUR DAILY WALK OF FAITH” – I TELL YOU, ‘YOU’ SHOULD NEVER “FALL AWAY”!!

IN PROVERBS 7:1-5 THE “WISE MAN” WROTE: “MY SON, KEEP MY WORDS, & LAY UP MY COMMANDMENTS WITH YOU. KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS, & LIVE, & MY LAW AS THE APPLE OF YOUR EYE. BIND THEM UPON YOUR FINGERS, WRITE THEM UPON THE TABLE OF YOUR HEART. SAY UNTO WISDOM, YOU ARE MY SISTER; & CALL UNDERSTANDING YOUR KINSWOMAN: THAT THEY MAY KEEP YOU FROM THE STRANGE WOMAN, FROM THE STRANGER WHICH FLATTERS WITH HER WORDS.” THE “STRANGE WOMAN”? THAT’S THE SPIRITURAL OR LITERAL ADULTERER; THAT’S THE “PRETENDERS OF THE FAITH” APART FROM “POSSESSED & OWNED BY GOD THROUGH HIS “BLOOD PURCHASE”; THAT’S THE “WORLDLY” SOLD OUT FOR THE HERE & NOW IN THE ‘BEST’ (?) OF “FLESH, OLD SIN-NATURE ALLEGIANCE, & DEMONIC DECEPTION”?

IN HEBREWS 3:6-14 WE ARE ALERTED TO ‘UNFAITHFUL RELIGIOUS DEVOTION, VOID OF TRUE ETERNAL ONENESS IN & THROUGH CHRIST ALONE ! THE HOLY WORD SAYS: “BUT CHRIST AS A SON OVER HIS OWN HOUSE; WHOSE HOUSE WE ARE IF WE HOLD FAST THE CONFIDENCE & THE REJOICING OF THE HOPE FIRM UNTO THE END. WHEREFORE (AS THE HOLY SPIRIT SAYS, TODAY IF YOU WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS, AS IN THE PROVOCATION, IN THE DAY OF TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS: WHEN YOUR FATHERS TEMPTED ME, PROVED ME, & SAW MY WORKS FORTY YEARS.

WHEREFORE I WAS GRIEVED WITH THAT GENERATION, & SAID, THEY DO ALWAYS ERR IN THEIR HEART; & THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN MY WAYS. SO I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER INTO MY REST.) TAKE HEED, BRETHREN, LEST THERE BE IN ANY OF YOU AN EVIL HEART OF UNBELIEF, IN DEPARTING FROM THE LIVING GOD. BUT EXHORT ONE ANOTHER DAILY, WHILE IT IS CALLED “TODAY”; LEST ANY OF YOU BE HARDENED THROUGH THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. FOR WE ARE MADE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST, IF WE HOLD THE BEGINNING OF OUR CONFIDENCE STEDFAST UNTO THE END.”

OH, THEN IN HEBREWS 4:9-11, WE READ ABOUT “THE REST OF TRUE FAITH IN CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK”! “THERE REMAINS THEREFORE A “REST” TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD. FOR HE/SHE THAT IS ENTERED INTO “CHRIST’S REST”, HE ALSO HAS CEASED FROM HIS OWN WORKS, AS GOD DID FROM HIS.” AND HEBREWS 4:15-16 NOT ONLY CLOSES THIS PARTICULAR CHAPTER, BUT ENLIGHTENS TRUE BELIEVERS IN WHERE THEIR SPIRITUAL VICTORY OVER THE LAW OF SIN & DEATH HAS BEEN BIRTHED!!

“FOR WE HAVE NOT AN HIGH PRIEST WHICH CANNOT BE TOUCHED WITH THE FEELING OF OUR INFIRMITIES; BUT WAS IN ALL POINTS TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ARE, YET WITHOUT SIN. LET US THEREFORE COME BOLDLY UNTO THE THRONE OF GRACE, THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY, & FIND GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED.”

I LOVE WATCHMAN NEE’S WRITINGS, & ESPECIALLY IN HIS BOOK, “THE SPIRITUAL MAN”, (COPYRIGHTED IN 1968 BY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP PUBLISHERS, INC. NEW YORK), WHEN HE WROTE(P.193), “FOR A BELIEVER WHO STRIVES AFTER GOD THE ELEMENT TO BE APPREHENSIVE ABOUT IS THE INORDINATE ACTIVITY OF THE SOUL BEYOND THE MEASURE SET BY GOD. THE SOUL HAS BEEN IN ASCENDANCY FOR SUCH LONG DURATION THAT IN THE MATTER OF CONSECRATION IT EVEN PRESUMES TO TAKE UPON ITSELF THE TASK OF REALIZING THAT ACT TO GOD’S SATISFACTION. MANY CHRISTIANS ARE UNAWARE HOW DRASTICALLY THE CROSS MUST WORK SO THAT ULTIMATELY THEIR NATURAL POWER FOR LIVING MAY BE DENIED.

THEY DO NOT KNOW THE REALITY OF THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT NOR THAT HIS AUTHORITY MUST EXTEND TO GATHERING UNDER HIS CONTROL THE THOUGHTS, DESIRES, & FEELINGS OF THE ENTIRE BEING. WITHOUT THEIR HAVING AN INNER APPRECIATION OF THIS, THE HOLY SPIRIT (THOUGH PRESENT) IS UNABLE TO ACCOMPLISH EVERYTHING HE WISHES TO DO. THE GREATEST TEMPTATION FOR AN EARNEST & ZEALOUS SAINT IS TO ENGAGE HIS OWN STRENGTH IN GOD’S SERVICE RATHER THAN TO WAIT HUMBLY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT TO WILL & TO PERFORM.”

LATER, (P.202-203), NEE SAID:DON’T MISS THIS! “WHAT SEPARATED THE HOLIEST & THE HOLY PLACE WAS REMOVED (THE VAIL WAS, IS, & FOREVER WILL BE REMOVED BECAUSE OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION PRESENCE!). GOD’S AIM WAS NOT TO DWELL PERMANENTLY IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. QUITE THE CONTRARY. HE DECIDED TO EXTEND HIS PRESENCE TO THE HOLY PLACE TOO. HE WAS MERELY WAITING FOR THE CROSS TO COMPLETE ITS WORK, FOR IT IS THE CROSS ALONE WHICH CAN REND THE CURTAIN & PERMIT GOD’S GLORY TO SHINE OUT FROM THE HOLIEST PLACE.” ( DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT THE “BLOOD-BOUGHT HEART, MIND, & LIFE OF THE REDEEMED SINNER” IS “NOW” GOD’S “HOLY TEMPLE”?).

I PRAY THAT THE WORD OF HOLY GOD IS NOT ‘TIRESOME’ TO YOU! JESUS SAID, “MAN DOES NOT LIVE BY (‘PHYSICAL’) BREAD ALONE; HE LIVES BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD!” AND, IN 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 APOSTLE PAUL ALERTS US: “WHAT? KNOW YOU NOT THAT YOUR BODY “IS” THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST WHICH IS IN YOU, WHICH YOU HAVE OF GOD, & YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN?(THAT’S AFTER HIS “BLOOD-BOUGHT PURCHASE OF YOU” & YOUR REPENTANCE & ABIDING FAITH!). FOR YOU ARE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE; THEREFORE GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR BODY, & IN YOUR SPIRIT, WHICH ARE GOD’S.”

IF YOU WERE CONFRONTED, CONVICTED, CONVERTED, & CONSECRATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH YOUR “PURCHASED BODY” NOW OWNED & INDWELT BY CHRIST JESUS, DO YOU TRULY BELIEVE IT’S YOUR ‘CHOICE’ TO DO AS YOU PLEASE? GIVE ME A BREAK!! IF YOU BELONG TO CHRIST, YOU ARE NO LONGER YOUR OWN TO DO AS YOU PLEASE!!!!!

IN THE OLD BROADMAN HYMNAL (PRODUCED BY THE BROADAMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, COPYRIGHTED IN 1940) P.75, IS THE HYMN, “O WORD OF GOD INCARNATE.” IT SAYS: “O WORD OF GOD INCARNATE, O WISDOM FROM ON HIGH, O TRUTH UNCHANGED, UNCHANGING, O LIGHT OF OUR DARK SKY: WE PRAISE YOU FOR YOUR RADIANCE THAT FROM THE HALLOWED PAGE, A LANTERN TO OUR FOOTSTEPS, SHINES ON FROM AGE TO AGE.

THE CHURCH FROM HER DEAR MASTER, RECEIVED THE GIFT DIVINE, AND STILL THAT LIFE SHE LIFTS O’ER ALL THE EARTH TO SHINE. IT IS THE GOLDEN CASKET, WHERE GEMS OF TRUTH ARE STORED; IT IS THE HEAVEN-DRAWN PICTURE OF CHRIST, THE LIVING WORD.

IT FLOATS LIKE A BANNER BEFORE GOD’S HOST UNFURLED; IT SHINES LIKE A BEACON ABOVE THE DARKLING WORLD; IT IS THE CHART & COMPASS THAT O’ER LIFE’S SURGING SEA, ‘MID MISTS & ROCKS & DARKNESS’, STILL GUIDES, O CHRIST, TO THEE.

O MAKE YOUR CHURCH, DEAR SAVIOR, A LAMP OF PUREST GOLD, TO BEAR BEFORE THE NATIONS YOUR TRUE LIGHT, AS OF OLD. O TEACH YOUR WANDERING PILGRIMS BY THIS THEIR PATH TO TRACE, TILL, CLOUDS & DARKNESS ENDED, THEY SEE YOU, LJC, FACE TO FACE!”

BUT ‘FALSE RELIGIONS’, ‘IMITATION-DISCIPLES’, ‘DECEIVED PASTORS’, EVEN SOME ‘INTELLECTUALLY-BRED, BUT HEART-DEAD, & MIND DECEIVED’ PROFESSORS & SOME ‘CHURCH-FOLK’, BOUND BY ‘RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS’, NOT ETERNAL BIBLICAL TRUTH, LIVE AS SUPERFICIAL THINKERS WHO CAN’T DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE WORLD, THE OLD SIN-NATURE, & SATAN’S DECEIT, LIVING ‘RELIGIOUSLY’ BUT BLINDED TO ETERNAL TRUTH!

I WANT TO LAUGH EVERY TIME I READ ROBERT BROWNING’S WRITING ENTITLED, “BISHOP BLOUGRAM’S APOLOGY”. “ALL WE HAVE GAINED THEN BY OUR UNBELIEF IS A LIFE OF DOUBT DIVERSIFIED BY FAITH, FOR ONE OF FAITH DIVERSIFIED BY DOUBT; WE CALLED THE CHESS-BOARD WHITE, – WE CALL IT BLACK.”

OH, & I WANT TO CRY WHEN I READ A PASSAGE LIKE MARK 4:40, DISCIPLES “WITH JESUS” IN A BOAT & A “STORM” ARISES! THE DISCIPLES SAID TO JESUS, “MASTER, DO YOU NOT CARE THAT WE PERISH?” & JESUS AROSE, & REBUKED THE WIND, & SAID UNTO THE SEA, “PEACE, BE STILL.” AND THE WIND CEASED, & THERE WAS A GREAT CALM. & JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, “WHY ARE YOU SO FEARFUL? HOW IS IT THAT YOU (DISCIPLES OF MINE) HAVE NO FAITH?” AND THEY FEARED EXCEEDINGLY, & SAID TO ONE ANOTHER, “WHAT MANNER OF MAN IS THIS, THAT EVEN THE WIND & THE SEA OBEY HIM?”

“BRINGING FALSE RELIGIONS TO TRUE FAITH”? HOW ABOUT “BRINGING UNCERTAIN DISCIPLES TO THE CERTAIN CARE OF CHRIST?’ HOW ABOUT “BRINGING IMMATURE DISCIPLES TO THE SOLID FOUNDATION OF THE INDWELLING CHRIST?” WHAT ABOUT “BRINGING TIMID, TERRIFIED, TOUGH-LESS DISCIPLES TO THE UNCEASING, UNWAVERING, UNWEAKENING STRENGTH OF ALMIGHTY GOD?”

IN MARK 13, I WANT YOU TO FOLLOW ME IN VERSES 13-37, THAT’S 24 VERSES OF EMPOWERING TRUTHS FOR YOU IF “YOU” ARE A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST WHO, YES, “CHRIST JESUS” CHANGES “FALSE RELIGIONS, FALSE PROFESSIONS & PROFESSORS, FALSE CHURCHES” INTO TABERNACLES OF HOLY PRESENCE”!! HOLD ON, THE STORM-CLOUDS, THE WINDS OF OPPOSITION TO DIVINE TRUTH, THE DEMONS OF DARKNESS MAY WANT TO INTENSIFY THEIR “ETERNAL DARKNESS” OVER YOU!! MARK 13:13-37!

“AND YOU SHALL BE HATED OF ALL MEN FOR MY NAME’S SAKE; BUT HE THAT SHALL ENDURE UNTO THE END, THE SAME SHALL BE SAVED. BUT WHEN YOU SEE THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, SPOKEN OF BY DANIEL THE PROPHET, STANDING WHERE IT OUGHT NOT, (LET HIM THAT READS THIS UNDERSTAND), THEN LET THEM THAT BE IN JUDEA FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS; & LET HIM THAT IS ON THE HOUSETOP NOT GO DOWN INTO THE HOUSE, NEITHER ENTER THEREIN, TO TAKE ANY THING OUT OF HIS HOUSE: & LET HIM THAT IS IN THE FIELD (ON THE WAREHOUSE JOB, THE CITY GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY, THE SCHOOL SYSTEM, THE BANKING BUSINESS, THE HOSPITALS, THE DOCTORS’ OFFICES, THE PRIVATE CORPORATIONS, THE PILOTS, THE BUS DRIVERS, THE YARD CARETAKERS, THE ATHELETES, COACHES, & FANS),….NOT TURN BACK AGAIN TO TAKE UP HIS GARMENTS.

BUT WOE TO THEM THAT ARE WITH CHILD, & TO THEM THAT GIVE SUCK IN THOSE DAYS! AND PRAY YOU THAT YOUR FLIGHT BE NOT IN WINTER. FOR IN THOSE DAYS SHALL BE AFFLICTION, SUCH AS WAS NOT FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION WHICH GOD CREATED UNTO THIS TIME, NEITHER SHALL BE. AND EXCEPT THAT THE LORD HAD SHORTENED THOSE DAYS, NO FLESH SHOULD BE SAVED; BUT FOR THE ELECT’S SAKE, WHOM HE HAS CHOSEN, HE HAS SHORTENED THE DAYS. AND THEN IF ANY MAN SHALL SAY TO YOU, LO, HERE IS CHRIST;OR,LO, HE IS THERE; BELIEVE HIM NOT: FOR FALSE CHRISTS & FALSE PROPHETS SHALL RISE, & SHALL SHOW SIGNS & WONDERS, “TO SEDUCE”, IF IT WERE POSSIBLE, EVEN THE ELECT. BUT YOU TAKE HEED: BEHOLD, I HAVE FORETOLD YOU ALL THINGS. BUT IN THOSE DAYS, AFTER THAT TRIBULATION, THE SUN SHALL BE DARKENED, & THE MOON SHALL NOT GIVE HER LIGHT, & THE STARS OF HEAVEN SHALL FALL, & THE POWERS THAT ARE IN HEAVEN SHALL BE SHAKEN.

AND THEN SHALL THEY SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN THE CLOUDS WITH GREAT POWER & GLORY. & THEN SHALL HE SEND HIS ANGELS, & SHALL GATHER TOGETHER HIS ELECT FROM THE FOUR WINDS, FROM THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE EARTH TO THE UTTERMOST PART OF THE HEAVEN.NOW LEARN A PARABLE OF THE FIG TREE; WHEN HER BRANCH IS YET TENDER, & PUTS FORTH LEAVES, YOU KNOW THAT SUMMER IS NEAR; SO YOU IN LIKE MANNER, WHEN YOU SHALL SEE THESE THINGS COME TO PASS, KNOW THAT IT IS NIGH, EVEN AT YOUR DOORS. VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS AWAY TILL ALL THESE THINGS ARE DONE.

HEAVEN & EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY; BUT MY WORDS SHALL NOT PASS AWAY. BUT OF THAT DAY & THAT HOUR KNOWS NO MAN, NO, NOT THE ANGELS WHICH ARE IN HEAVEN, NEITHER THE SON, BUT THE FATHER. TAKE YOU HEED, WATCH & PRAY; FOR YOU KNOW NOT WHEN THE TIME IS. FOR THE SON OF MAN IS AS A MAN TAKING A FAR JOURNEY, WHO LEFT HIS HOUSE, & GAVE AUTHORITY TO HIS SERVANTS, & TO EVERY MAN HIS WORK, & COMMANDED THE PORTER TO WATCH. WATCH YOU THEREFORE; FOR YOU KNOW NOT WHEN THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE COMES, AT EVENING,OR AT MIDNIGHT, OR AT THE COCKCROWING, OR IN THE MORNING; LEST COMING SUDDENLY HE FINDS YOU SLEEPING. AND WHAT I SAY UNTO YOU I SAY UNTO ALL, WATCH.” CAN I SUMMARIZE THIS TEACHING FOR YOU? BELIEVE I WILL! “BRINGING FALSE RELIGIONS TO TRUE FAITH”?

• THERE ARE FALSE MESSIAHS, FALSE PROPHETS, FALSE DISCIPLES,

FALSE CHRISTIANS, FALSE MINISTRIES MORE INTERESTED IN YOUR ‘MONEY’ THAN YOUR ETERNAL HEALING THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST! BE CAREFUL! (MATTHEW 24:4-5)

2)THERE ARE WARS, TURMOILS, BATTLES, THREATS, ATTEMPTS AT …..MAJOR DECEPTIONS! (MATTHEW 24:6)

…..3)THERE ARE PERSECUTIONS! (MATTHEW 24:7-12)

4)THERE IS THE CHALLENGE TO ENDURE! (MATTHEW 24:13)

……5) THERE IS HOLY GOD’S, KINGLY JESUS’S, THE HOLY SPIRIT’S, YES, THEIR MANDATE ON MINISTRY AS A DISCIPLE! (MATTHEW 24:14)

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD OF 1940 OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION COPYRIGHTED THE SONG I WANT TO SHARE IN THE “BROADMAN HYMNAL OF 1940! IT’S ENTITLED: “IT IS FINISHED!” SAYING: “IT IS FINISHED,” SAID MY SAVIOUR, AS HE HUNG ON CALVARY; OH, THE AWFUL PAIN & ANGUISH, SUFFERING THERE FOR YOU & ME.

“IT IS FINISHED,” SAID MY SAVIOUR, HE HAD WROUGHT SALVATION’S PLAN; SEE HIM, AS BY GOD FORSAKEN, HANGING THERE FOR SINFUL MAN.

“IT IS FINISHED,” SAID MY SAVIOR, WON’T YOU TRUST THIS SAVIOR NOW? TURN FROM ALL YOUR SINS TO JESUS, AT HIS FEET, COME, HUMBLY BOW.

“IT IS FINISHED,” “IT IS FINISHED,” MY SALVATION FULL & FREE; JESUS PAID THE DEBT FOR SINNERS, WHEN HE DIED ON CALVARY.”

THE SAVIOR, THE LORD JESUS, WAS GOD’S SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SINS! THE SAVIOR’S SHED BLOOD WASHED THE GUILT OF SIN AWAY, THE SAVIOR BURIED YOUR OLD LIFE AS HE TOOK YOU WITH HIM TO THE CROSS,DIED, BURIED THAT OLD LIFE IN HIS GRAVE, & AROSE TO SAY TO YOU, “COME TO ME, & I’LL GIVE YOU REST, RELEASE, RECOVERY, & REAL VICTORY OVER YOUR SINFUL WORLD, OVER YOUR SINFUL NATURE, & OVER SATAN’S DESIRE TO BIND YOU IN HIS CHAINS,HOPING NOT TO SEE YOU FREE FOREVER THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST’S ATONEMENT!!

OH, I KNOW, IN THIS 21^ST CENTURY WE LIVE IN A TIME PERIOD OF “SPIRITUAL PRETENSE” WITH MANY CHURCH MEMBERS PRETENDING APART FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST, EXTENDING HIS ETERNAL MINISTRY THROUGH THEIR REDEEMED, REGENERATED, RESTORED TO ETERNAL GLORY HEARTS & MINDS, THROUGH HIS ETERNAL GRACE!

IN PSALM 37:34-40 WE READ: “WAIT ON THE LORD, & KEEP HIS WAY, & HE SHALL EXALT YOU TO INHERIT THE LAND; WHEN THE WICKED ARE CUT OFF, YOU SHALL SEE IT. I HAVE SEEN THE WICKED IN GREAT POWER, & SPREADING HIMSELF LIKE A GREEN BAY TREE. YET HE PASSED AWAY, &, LO, HE WAS NOT: YES, I SOUGHT HIM, BUT HE COULD NOT BE FOUND. MARK THE PERFECT MAN (IS THAT THE MAN TOTALLY PERFECTED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, BIRTHED AS GOD’S “NEW CREATION” TO BRIGHTEN THE WORLD AROUND THEM?), & BEHOLD THE UPRIGHT (UPRIGHT?) -(THAT’S NOT ‘PRIDE’ – THAT’S THE PRIVILEGE OF GRACE & MERCY & GOD’S LOVE!). FOR THE END OF THAT MAN IS PEACE. BUT THE TRANSGRESSORS SHALL BE DESTROYED TOGETHER; THE END OF THE WICKED SHALL BE CUT OFF. BUT THE SALVATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS OF THE LORD: HE IS THEIR STRENGTH IN TIME OF TROUBLE OR NEED.

AND THE LORD SHALL HELP THEM, & DELIVER THEM: HE SHALL DELIVER THEM FROM THE WICKED, & SAVE THEM, “BECAUSE THEY TRUST IN HIM.” TELL ME ABOUT YOUR “TRUST LEVEL” IN THE LORD!

PROVERBS 3:5-6 SAYS, “TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART; & LEAN NOT UNTO YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, (THAT’S DAILY, FAITHFULLY GIVING HIM THE REINS OF YOUR LIFE!!), & HE SHALL DIRECT YOUR PATHS.” THE AMERICAN HYMNAL OF 1940 HAS A HYMN ENTITLED , “GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH.” IT SAYS: “GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT JEHOVAH, PILGRIM THRO’ THIS BARREN LAND; I AM WEAK, BUT YOU ARE MIGHTY, HOLD ME WITH YOUR POWERFUL HAND : BREAD OF HEAVEN, FEED ME TILL I WANT NO MORE; BREAD OF HEAVEN, FILL ME TILL I WANT NO MORE.

OPEN NOW THE CRYSTAL FOUNTAIN WHENCE THE HEALING WATERS FLOW; LET THE FIERY, CLOUDY PILLAR LEAD ME ALL MY JOURNEY THRO’: STRONG DELIVERER, BE THOU STILL MY STRENGTH & SHIELD; STRONG DELIVERER, BE THOU STILL MY STRENGTH & SHIELD.

WHEN I TREAD THE JORDAN RIVER, BID MY ANXIOUS FEARS SUBSIDE ; BEAR ME THRO’ THE SWELLING CURRENT, LAND ME SAFE ON CANAAN’S SIDE: SONGS OF PRAISES I WILL EVER GIVE THEE; SONGS OF PRAISES I WILL EVER GIVE THEE.” WHAT’S THE TITLE OF THIS TEACHING? “BRINGING FALSE RELIGIONS TO GOD’S TRUE FAITH!” HAVE YOU? ARE YOU “LIVING TRIUMPHANTLY IN GOD’S TRUE FAITH”?

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, DEC. 2-4, 2017

In Proverbs 23:4-5, 12, and 17-19, are extremely wise, necessary words for all men, but especially to true believers! It says, Verses 4-5, “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”

Verse 12 says, “Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.” (Would you think that means ‘turn your hearts and minds TO God’s Word’ and ‘your ears to “Biblical Truth”?’).

Verses 17-19 says, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope (in Him and His Word!) will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way.”

What ‘way’ do you choose to walk in? “Mindful indulgence or Mastered independence?” In Matthew 6:19-21 the Lord Jesus said: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Is there a reason for what Christ said? In Colossians 3:5 Paul wrote, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”

All unbelievers and ‘sons of disobedience’ WALK in “mindful indulgence” completely unaware of the consequences! In Romans 8:8 Paul wrote, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God”, meaning that those who live ‘in the flesh’ dominated by their old sin-natures cannot please God, emphasizing even more in Romans 8:13 saying, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die…”, unveiling unregenerate people who are, yes, hostile to God, and in the ‘flesh’ cannot create, invent, manufacture, or idealize ‘holy living’ – that takes a miracle of the love, grace, and mercy of God!

‘Mindful indulgence’ is the result of the birthings of perverted generations as Romans 3:23 clearly announces, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” Natural man “misses the mark” and needs “Blood Redemption” by the purely innocent shed blood of the Son of God who knew no sin yet willfully took our sin natures to the Cross with Him!

In Romans 3:10-18 Paul quoted Old Testament passages to open men’s eyes, minds, and hearts to the need of their “blood redemption through Christ” saying: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.

They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

“Mindful indulgence” is ‘self-effort’ denying the need of ‘sovereign provision’ in any form or any Person, seeking to ‘justify’ one’s life by ‘grit’, refusing the grace of God; and, of course, there are those who believe by ‘working at it’ their effort ought to be “passed” with flying colors, rather than “Resting” in the finished work of Christ at the Cross and the empty tomb, making available Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power!! Romans 3:24 clearly tells us, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, WHOM GOD SET FORTH AS A PROPITIATION BY HIS BLOOD…!!!”

It’s so convicting and heart-breaking to become aware of, yes, multitudes who truly believe their ‘working at being a better person’, or for some, they just don’t care what God thinks about them – but…Romans 4:4 is clear: “Now to him who works (at making himself/herself acceptable before Holy God), the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” Is ‘true salvation’ “working at it” or “RESTING” in Christ’s “finished work at the Cross”?

In John 5:38-40 Christ Jesus exposed the “religious Pharisees” of His day, as He does today with ‘modern-day’, religious activists who, yes, major on “self-effort” rather than His “finished work”! John wrote: “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe (trust in, rely upon, adhere to!). You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

In John 17:11b-19 the Lord Jesus prayed for His new disciples that He’d soon be departing from, saying, “…Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition (Judas), that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify (Set apart) them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”

Question! “Have YOU been ‘set apart’ for the glory of God alone? Do YOU live to unveil the Indwelling Christ to the ‘lost world’ around you? Are YOU His messenger, His ambassador, His witness of saving grace, mercy, and love? Do YOU by “life example” reveal to your world your allegiance to King Jesus?

“Mindful Allegiance” is a life “too busy” with one’s natural surroundings to be concerned with, involved in, or a messenger of “King-dom Allegiance”! Some in church fellowships that, as disciples, the Lord Jesus said to them and us in Matthew 16: 17-19, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, (Farrell Fisher, David Clark, T.Roy Jones, anointed wife of a strong, trusting husband, medical doctor “So and so”, banker, car-washer, educator), for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, AND ON THIS ROCK (OF FAITH, TRUST, AND OBEDIENCE!) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR “BINDING AND LOOSING MINISTRY!” Do YOU realize that YOU are either binding kingdom ministry on the earth around you OR you are loosing the Kingdom of Christ around you by, yes, your faithful ministry as an appointed, anointed servant of the Master or is it just an ‘imitator’, ‘do nothing’ church member?

Are YOU a “kingdom minister”? In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”, with more enlightment for true believers and servants of the Master coming in John 18:36-38 when Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Right before His ascension, in Acts 1:7-8, the Lord Jesus said to His new disciples, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. BUT YOU shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Witnesses, messengers, ambassadors, proclaimers, servants in the Name and for the honor and glory of Christ in us and through us, because in you the Word reveals a redeemed life filled with the Holy Spirit, being, yes, guided by the Holy Spirit in being a faithful witness to the unredeemed around you?

But, sadly, the Holy Word of God reveals the truth that there are those who, according to Romans 2:4-11, should have God’s holy judgment against them clearly revealed! Paul wrote: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? BUT in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ‘who will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; BUT TO THOSE WHO ARE SELF-SEEKING AND DO NOT OBEY TRUTH, BUT OBEY UNRIGHTEOUSNESS – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who seeks what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”

I’m sure that at least most ‘professing believers’ know what is commonly called the “Lord’s Prayer” as He taught His new disciples in Matthew 6 unveiling it with powerful instructions in Verses 5-8 followed by the “Lord’s Prayer” in Verses 9-13! Receive our Lord’s powerful ministry AND instruction through His teaching!

Matthew 6:5-8, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites (or “play actors”). For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Verses 9-13 follows – Receive our Lord’s Prayer! It says: In this manner, therefore, pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

“Mastered Independence”? That’s a life conquered by the love of God, set free from the law of sin and death by the blood of the Lamb, governed by His Kingdom rule and revelation, freed from the “chains of Satanic bondage”, issued the “Master’s instruction of heavenly independence from the worldly aims of godlessness, from a world system of self-dependence, from the ‘flesh’ stronghold of sin and death, and from the darkness of demonic activity”, and discerning of what, yes, fallen mankind and, sadly, some believers are influenced by as John was inspired to write in 1 John 2:15-17,

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

And “Mastered Independence”? That’s pastors, churches, families, individuals, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, then loosed in a fallen world, yes, “mastered independently” to BE “salt and light” in one’s darkened world, not making sure the “salt and light” is protected by the four walls of a church building, but poured out faithfully in the streets of one’s city, state, nation, and its world!

I’ve often wondered if pastors and churches today “rest” in the Word of God, then find themselves “released” to touch the World God loves with the message of His Son. In Isaiah 54:1-3 merciful God is touching His ‘barren people’ who’ve failed to be “poured out drink offerings” to a thirsty, dry, unredeemed world! Receive His Word!! “Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall EXPAND to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.”

It’s time for “stained glass curtains” hiding too many disciples faith to be removed, maybe, allowing the “True Light” to shine in the streets where they walk, work, witness, worship, and willfully share their faith in Christ! Our Lord and Savior willfully left the “Throne Room of God” to pour out His life to our needy world, and I believe He wants us, yes, laying down our lives in the streets of the cities of our world! Great witnesses are mortal men and women touched and taken over by Jesus, tutored by the Holy Spirit, and commissioned by Christ to see transformed lives by faithful witnesses who share God’s eternal love, grace, and mercy for, yes, ALL of fallen mankind!

Grace E. Uhler once wrote: “For God so loved the world, not just a few, The wise and Great, the noble and the true, Or those of favored class or race or hue. God so loved the world. Do you?”

It’s time for modern-day churches, faithful pastors, families of faith and biblical mission to lose themselves in a flood of Calvary’s love, faithfully becoming “poured-out drink offerings” to this spiritually dehydrated world! Amen? Sadly, some ‘professing disciples’ are the result of a ‘dead faith’ that isn’t worth sharing, so they don’t, because their ‘faith’ isn’t of any value in them or around them because they’ve never comprehended the end result of Christ-less living! “God, help us, convict us, prepare us, and pour us out to our thirsty world!” Amen?

“SPIRITUAL INSANITY OR SPIRITUAL REALITY?”

In Proverbs 16:9 we find man’s deceptive insanity and God’s eternal Truth. It says: “A man’s heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps.”

You do understand that there is eternal difference between self-educated men and men who “rest” in the revelation of the Word of God!?!

In Jeremiah 9:23-24 we read, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.” Is Holy God “delighted” in your ‘self-allegiance’ over “trusting and resting in the finished work of Christ at Calvary’s Cross and the Empty Tomb”, more delighted in self-determination than the Savior’s declaration and Heaven’s determination of Christ’s “blood sacrifice” over fallen humanity’s “best effort”??

Are you aware of how deep, wide, and broad spiritual insanity is in a large number of mankind’s deceived minds and hearts as to Biblical Truth? The wise man, again in Proverbs 9:10, wrote, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Really? ‘The fear of the Lord?’ Many say without embarrassment, “I don’t fear God – I adore Him”, while they live in spiritual insanity doing as they ‘fleshly please’, unaware of spiritual consequences for their ‘religious, fleshly, worldly indulgences with no guilt, embarrassment, or conviction’ about the “holy life within” as they profess to follow while recklessly hold on to their ‘spiritual profession’, with no “fear of the Lord in hating evil”! (Proverbs 8:13).

I absolutely love the words of Proverbs 10:30 where the “wise man” wrote, “The righteous shall never be removed; but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.” Are you truly aware that God has an eternal plan of His Kingdom on earth being eternally established? I grew up in a church who sang regularly, faithfully, and in full conviction, “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen!” Righteous never removed, but the wicked not inhabiting? The righteous never removed from the earth, (because Christ’s Kingdom is established in their hearts, while unbelievers ‘choose’ the world’s, the flesh’s, the devil’s eternal kingdom of separation from God and His chosen people?).

Joseph Parker once wrote (The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Fleming H. Revell Company, p.183), “Have no fear for the unsettlement or the disturbance of the Kingdom of heaven. It began in eternity, it will go on through everlasting; there is no panic in the divine personality. God IS peace, God gives peace, God gives rest.”

You do understand that there are kingdoms of self-centered men and self-centered, worldly establishments, that want a “fleshly paradise”, but only God’s Kingdom on earth becomes faithfully His “Paradise”!

I don’t know who wrote it, but I remember growing up singing in my “home church” the hymn that says: “His kingdom is coming: Oh, tell me the story! God’s banner exalted shall be; The earth shall be filled with His wonder and glory, As waters that cover the sea.”

The heart, mind, will, purpose of God is that your earthly life would become, by repentance and by redemptive faith, God’s eternal Paradise on earth, yes, eternally! Your eternal life “in Christ” is His eternal Kingdom being established on, in earth, as it is in Heaven? “In Christ” one is through Him bringing Heaven to earth with His ever, abiding Presence??!!

It was Phillips Brooks who once wrote: “Be such a man, and live such a life, That if every man were such as you, And every man a life like yours, This earth would be God’s Paradise.” Is your life an extension, expression, an interpretation of God’s Paradise?

Do you remember the Lord teaching His new disciples to pray in Matthew 6:7-13? Christ Jesus said: “But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not you therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.

After this manner therefore pray: ‘Our Father Who Is In Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptations, but deliver us from evil; for Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” The kingdom, the power, the glory forever? On earth? Several Truths You Must “Rest in”!!

FIRST, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR EVERLASTING PROMISE OF A BLESSED LIFE! How necessary is the prophetic Word to your life in Christ?!? In Jeremiah 17:5-7 we read, “Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.”

In the old “Broadman Hymnal” of 1940, is a hymn written by Edward Mote and William Bradbury that says: “My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the vale. His oath, His covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found; Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before His throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.” Your life on the Solid Rock of Christ or is it on ‘sinking sand’?

SECOND, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR SOVEREIGN HEAD! In Colossians 2:9-10 the Holy Word tells us: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are COMPLETE IN HIM, which is the head of all principality and power…”!.

But YOU are simply satisfied with God’s forgiveness through Christ, but unavailable to prove His love, express His power, and extend HIS KINGDOM, because, forgiven, you’re now thankful you can continue in the life of yours that He carried with Him to the Cross, so you hold onto ‘self’ as your sovereign ruler? Where is that in the Word of God?

Is your spiritual walk paths you interpret for yourself or do you “live” by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God? In Matthew 4:4 we read, “But Jesus answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall not LIVE by physical bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

THIRD, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR ETERNAL HEART! In Proverbs 28:26 we read, “He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered.” We know the Word is so clear and convicting and convincing when we read in Verse 13, “He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”

Merit-minded men, intent on doing their own thing, even religiously, while still thinking they can’t do anything but sin even as a disciple of Christ, are men void of understanding of “Christ in you your only hope of glory.” In Romans 5 and 6 we learn that the grace of God is not fleshly grease allowing men to slide into heaven in their earthly, fleshly, demonic and satanic leanings, but the grace of God birthing “new lives” in and through the eternal heart of the crucified but resurrected Christ reigning NOW in His eternal spiritual Kingdom! Romans 5:1 2 tells us, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God THROUGH our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, AND REJOICE IN HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD.” And Romans 5:10? “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (being) saved by His (resurrected, reigning) life.” GLORY!!

Oh, but glory in God even more because in Romans 6:17-18 we also are trained, informed, inspired, and, yes, amazed at our calling! “But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was (and presently IS) delivered to you. Being then MADE FREE FROM SIN, YOU BECAME THE SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

And understanding that “Christ only IS your eternal heart”, you daily take the sentence of death to the “old self” that the resurrection life of Christ may literally, daily, be yielded to His Indwelling Presence!

FOURTH, CHRIST ONLY IS OUR STRONG HELP! I don’t know how any ‘believer’ can read Psalm 42 and not rejoice in continual Hallelujahs! David wrote, Psalm 42:5, 8, and 11, the following words: Psalm 42:5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.

Verse 8, Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

Verse 11, Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Dare I ask? “How is the health of your countenance?” “IS CHRIST ONLY YOUR STRONG HELP?”

FIFTH, CHRIST ONLY IS THE HERALD OF LIFE’S BLESSING! Christ-less-ness is a curse, but “in Christ” is eternal blessing. Didn’t Jesus say, John 10:10, “I am come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly”?

How about “the river of God’s abundant pleasures”, Psalm 36:8? Or, beyond abundant life and pleasure, how about “the bank of God’s abundant grace”, 2 Corinthians 2:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that YOU, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work,” OR, “the reservoir of God’s abundant power, His ample supply, and His amazing entrance into His eternal Kingdom?

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”? OR,

The open door to amazing supplies that never run dry? Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all you need according to His riches in glory by or in Christ Jesus”?

OR, His abundant entrance? 2 Peter 1:11, “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

SIXTH, CHRIST ONLY IS OUR PERPETUAL HAPPINESS AND JOY! Oh, how clear is Nehemiah 8:10? “The joy of the Lord is your strength”? Or Psalm 16:11? “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”

Do YOU walk in perpetual happiness and joy? Do YOU walk in a state of ‘fleshly bliss’ or “Sovereign Blessing”? Is it ‘happiness attained in the best of human effort’ or is it the “Holy Estate of Heavenly Presence in the repentant rest of true Biblical Faith” that reveals Christ in you as your hope of glory?

Examine carefully Romans 4:1-5! “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh has found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he has whereof to glory: BUT NOT BEFORE GOD. For what does the Holy Scriptures tell us?

Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto Him for righteousness. Now to him that works at it is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt? But to him that works not, but believes in, trusts in, relies upon, Him that JUSTIFIES the ungodly, that one’s faith is counted for righteousness.” That, my friend, is “Amazing Grace”!!

SEVENTH, CHRIST IN YOU IS THE ONLY DOOR INTO LIVING IN, BY, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD’S ABIDING PRESENCE! Follow carefully Colossians 2:6-10 and then Colossians 1:19-29!

Colossians 2:6-10 says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are COMPLETE IN CHRIST.” What IS that “completeness in Christ”? Colossians 1:19-29 is so inspired, so informative, so liberating. It says:

“For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell; And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight:

If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not removed from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God;

Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; WHICH IS ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily.” IS JESUS AT WORK IN YOU MIGHTILY?

EIGHTH, BECAUSE OF THE BIBLICAL FOUNDATION OF YOUR ONENESS IN CHRIST, IS THE HISTORY OF YOUR ONENESS IN CHRIST THE RECOGNITION OF HISTORICALLY, PERSONALLY, INSPIRATIONALLY, DAILY CHOOSING DEATH TO YOUR OLD SELF SO THAT CHRIST IN YOUR NEW-BORN HEART IS ABLE TO EXTEND HIS LIFE, EXPRESS HIS LOVE, AND THROUGH YOU PROVE HIS POWER, TOUCHING THE WORLD THROUGH YOU WITH HIS NEVER-ENDING PRESENCE?

This walk in redemptive faith is not ‘trying’ but “trusting”, not ‘attempting’ but “allowing Him to be Himself in you and through you”, not ‘determining’ rationally what you choose to do as a disciple of Christ, but “depending upon Christ in you, Christ through you, Christ for you touching your world around you with His atoning power and amazing purpose!

For YOU, what is it? Spiritual insanity in “the best of human effort”, or is it the “spiritual reality of the new-born Life in Christ”? You do have a choice! “Choose you this day whom you will serve”, making yourself available to His Resurrected Presence! Amen?

I’ve paraphrased the old hymn “Saviour, Again” found in the old hymnal of Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, (1940). It says: “Savior, again to Your dear name we raise With one accord our parting hymn of praise; Once more we bless You ere our worship cease, Then, lowly kneeling, wait Your word of peace. (Is that “welcome to the Throne of Christ as your, truly, Lord and Savior”?).

A cloud of witnesses around Hold you in full survey; Forget the steps already trod, And onward urge God’s way, And onward urge God’s way.

It’s God’s all animating voice That calls you from on high; It’s His own hand presents the prize To your aspiring eye, To your aspiring eye.

Blest Savior, introduced by God, Have I my race begun; And, crowned with victory, (eternally!), at Your feet I’ll lay my honors down, I’ll lay my honors down.”

Examine Matthew 25:31-46! The day is coming when the King of glory, the Son of man, shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He shall sit upon the throne of His glory:

And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, (That’s the King of Heaven AND Earth!!): Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was hungered, and you gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came unto me.

Then shall the righteous (the sheep but not the goats!) answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you hungry, and fed you? Or thirsty, and gave you drink? When saw we you a stranger, and took you in? or naked, and clothed you? Or when saw we you sick, or in prison, and came unto you? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these me brethren, you have done it unto me.

Then shall he say unto them on the left hand (the goats), Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; For I was hungry, and you gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto you? Then Jesus answered them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.”

Dare I ask? “Where are YOU headed? In whom or what have YOU “rested”? Finished with your old sin nature or finalized forever through repentance and faith in Him alone, “complete in Christ lacking nothing”?